Rockin’ Robbie

June 20, 2008 05:35 pm

— Carman Williams
cwilliams@weatherforddemocrat.com
Robbie Hodges will do almost anything for a laugh, whether it’s climbing into the audience to get someone involved or dressing as a cheerleader and running in front of a bull. For a rodeo clown and barrel man, that’s just part of the job description.
Hodges was a self-described “city kid” until he moved in with his Georgia grandparents at age 14. His cousins were team ropers and encouraged him to go to rodeos with them. That encouragement sparked a life-long passion for Hodges, and has led him throughout the United States and into several career paths.
Hodges spent 16 years on the rodeo circuit as a bareback rider “getting the heck beat out of me,” as he described it. Eventually, Hodges decided to give up roughstock, but wasn’t ready to leave the rodeo life yet.
“I was the kind of guy that always joked around, and some buddies said, ‘Hey, why don’t you be a clown?’ So for the last eight years, that’s what I’ve been doing,” Hodges explained.
He said the transition from Robbie Hodges, bareback rider, to Rockin’ Robbie, rodeo clown, has been a great one.
“The money’s already there, so I don’t have to worry about that,” he said. “This is a lot more fun. I don’t have to worry about winning; I win when the phone rings.”
Like most people in the rodeo business, Hodges spends much of his time on the road, but his true home is Cave Spring, Ga., with his wife and their three children.
His family shares Hodges’ love for rodeo. His wife, a school teacher, runs barrels in the rodeo, and the couple’s 9-year-old daughter is following in her mother’s footsteps as a barrel racer. Their two sons, 11 and 3, enjoy helping their dad with his clown acts.
Though Hodges doesn’t spend much time at home — last year he was on the road 300 days, everywhere from Washington to Florida — he tries not to waste the time he does spend with his kids. They take weekend trips to Six Flags, water parks or museums.
“That’s their trade for their dad being gone,” Hodges said.
When he’s on the road, Hodges usually entertains himself with his guitar. He says he has inspired several of the rodeo cowboys to play as well.
“My trailer’s kind of party central. They figure if a bum clown can play, they can, so we play together,” Hodges said.
He also tries to catch a NASCAR race when he can; a hobby left over from the two years he spent on a pit crew in the Busch Series.
Hodges doesn’t spend all his time on the road at the races or picking guitars with rodeo buddies. He does his best to keep his clown acts fresh and original, and he’s the first to admit it doesn’t always come easily.
“I try to be a little bit non-traditional,” Hodges said. “It’s tough sometimes to come up with new stuff. I try not to bring the same stuff to the same rodeos unless it’s requested, and I’m still just scratching the surface.
“I judge my stuff by the riders. They see so many of these [acts], if they say, ‘Man, that was the funniest thing I’ve ever seen,’ that’s when I know I’m doing something right. That’s my litmus test.”
More than anything, Hodges wants people to relax and have fun when they come to a rodeo, and he’s determined to help them. That means he’s not afraid to crack jokes at himself, at the audience or at political figures and celebrities.
“I don’t care who you vote for, I just want you to laugh at it,” he said. “If I haven’t said a four-letter word, when you leave the arena at the end of the night, let it go. I’m tired of living in the United States of the Offended. I want to have a good time. We’re not going to get risque, but we’re going to have fun.”
Though Hodges seems adamant that audiences not take offense to his jokes, parents don’t need to worry about letting their children watch Rockin’ Robbie. As his Web site claims, he tries to keep his material positive, non-violent and clean.
“He genuinely enjoys being a rodeo clown because he likes to talk to and entertain people, especially children,” the site claims. And, sure enough, Hodges is ready and willing to talk to little cowboys and cowgirls and pose for pictures after every rodeo.
Hodges also prides himself on being one of the few modern rodeo clowns who helps man the barrel during the bull riding.
“I love to be in the barrel for the bull riders,” Hodges said. “I think that’s a big responsibility of taking care of the bull fighters and riders. It’s very important to me. I don’t want to say I’ve saved anybody, I’m just a helper. To me, that’s more important than the comedy.”
His partners in the arena respond to his sense of responsibility. During the Parker County rodeo, the camaraderie was evident between Hodges and bull fighters Darran Robertson and Kenny Bergeron.
Hodges admitted he was a little nervous about his first performance in Weatherford at this year’s rodeo.
“I’ve heard Weatherford is a challenge because the people like to socialize and they’re rodeo-based,” he said. “I’m going to try to get them going right from the beginning.”
After 24 years in the rodeo business and eight years as a clown, you might think Hodges would be ready to settle down. But Hodges isn’t ready to call it quits just yet.
“I spend most of my life with the wheels rolling,” he said. “I guess they’ll just bury me at the last rodeo. I’ll just fall over and they can dig a hole during the calf roping.”